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These books, 500 in all, are numbered and arranged in
numerical order. A reference to their contents is facilitated by
means of an index. The name of each street, in alphabetical
sequence, followed by a number indicative of a corresponding
volume, is printed in bold type. Easy access is thus
afforded to the information which has been collected.
From time to time, as the sanitary arrangements of
houses become perfected, they are entered and described in
their proper place, and as a whole page is allotted to each
house, ample space is provided for a description in detail,
of the position, the condition, and the structural efficiency of
the appliances of sanitation. The date of the completion of
sanitary improvements is considered worthy of a remark. The
occurrence of epidemic disease is noted, and as this point is
of considerable importance in a record, which claims for itself
the preservation of a hygienic history of every house, the note
is written in red ink.
Although years must elapse before these volumes can
contain facts sufficient to reflect the sanitary condition
of the parish, yet month by month, and year by year,
as accumulating evidence is recorded, they will bccome, as a
store-house of information, increasingly valuable and useful.
Now turning from that section of the work of the department
which has for its object the collection, arrangement, and
tabulation of facts relating to the causation and distribution
of disease, let us glance at the practical work which has been
accomplished during the year.
Scarlet Fever existed in an epidemic form for the greater
part of 1887. The number of cases rose month by month
from January to September with little intermission until in
the latter month the outbreak reached its climax, with a return
of 197 cases, and again slowly subsided. During the year,
995 cases were reported. By their energetic action, the
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